Go Lakers! (And Take The Rest Of The Pros With You)

I picked today's fractal Squared Arabic 129 for one reason only--the color scheme was purple and gold (well kindasorta purple at least) like the team colors of the L.A. Lakers. If you can't see why that would be relevant from the blog title you probably shouldn't read any further. That being said--on with the rant!
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So the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic Sunday night to claim a 15th NBA title. Hoop-la! Try to imagine how completely underwhelmed I am by the news. The awful truth is this--I just don't get professional sports. (I want to, but I can't fathom it no matter how hard I try.) I want to feel proud of my city (by extension) since "our" team won something major but somehow I just can't work up the enthusiasm--especially now.
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Professional Athletes of (almost) every sport (at least the men) get paid HUGE salaries for the privilege of being allowed to play a game. In return these athletes treat fans with little to no respect. The Players replay fan loyalty with with antics that are, at best, questionable and behavior that ranges from the idiotic to downright thuggish. We hold these men up as role models to our children when we should be holding them up as the "don't do this" example. The Owners aren't much better: they PAY those astronomical salaries and don't seem to want to control the bad behavior of their Players. (Of course, when you throw checks with lots of zeroes on the ends at poor kids barely out of High School it's a sure recipe for disaster.) Worse, the Owners (and those connected with them) milk fans like Cash Cows. (Parking at the Staples Center for the Lakers' celebration today was $60 PER CAR.) They lock city governments into stadium agreements that will never pay off--no matter how many years they run. (The Anaheim Ducks have such an agreement the city can't hope to recoup--even when you figure the added Sales Tax generated by the Pond (or whatever they're calling the Arena these days). The ultimate gesture of disrespect is for the Players to up and take their team to another city as soon as a better deal pops up: so much for loyalty eh what?
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For me, the Lakers' "Championship Celebration" was a complete waste: yes, the Lakers and their supporters picked up half the tab but the city of Los Angeles still paid millions of dollars in overtime and other expenses--millions the budget simply didn't have to spare. If the Lakers and their friends wanted a parade so badly why didn't they pay for all of it themselves? (I heard more than one local Commentator say Los Angeles needed the celebration: me--I think the city needs more fire and police protection, more libraries and such--not a party for a bunch of rich jocks.)
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Worse still, the "need to win" mentality has even corrupted college athletic programs. Tim Ffloyd, head Basketball Coach at USC recently resigned after being caught delivering an envelope of cash to one of his star players (and has been accused of many more violations). Still, word-on-the-street has it that Ffloyd didn't do anything else any other Head Coach of a major University does to keep up with everyone else. That is truly sad.
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Fans have to take some of the blame for this: fans (understandably) wants their team to WIN (and they don't seem to care what lengths the team to which the teams/Players go to achieve that end.) I could write a whole post on "Man Ram" and his fellow "steroid stallions" but I think my feelings would be pretty obvious. I just don't get why parents hold these guys up as an example to follow (unless you want to teach your kids to win at any cost!)
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Then of course you have the knuckleheads who like to "celebrate" by trashing entire city blocks. What are these fools thinking? (I know--they AREN'T thinking!) Are the perpetrators caught and forced to pay for the damage they cause? (Some are but I'd bet most aren't...) I know there will be arguments that a few "bad apples" shouldn't spoil it for everyone else but considering this destruction happens EVERY TIME a championship rolls around it makes me think that maybe there shouldn't be a venue for these fools to act out.
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All that taken together is why I say yet again....
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GO LAKERS!!! And take the Dodgers, Angels, Clippers, Kings, Ducks, the Sparks and even the L.A. Galaxy with you...
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'nuff said.